Migration Watch UK press comment on ONS release regarding the difference between National Insurance number registrations and the estimate of long-term international migration

May 12, 2016

Commenting, Mr Alp Mehmet, Vice Chair of Migration Watch UK, said:

What matters is the increase in the European-born population in Britain, which is not consistent with the immigration figures. This ONS report has not addressed that question. This ONS release agrees with our earlier analysis which noted that short-term migration accounts for much of the difference between national insurance numbers and the immigration figures, but not for all of it. We still have no explanation for the increase in the Eastern European population of 90,000 a year over the last four years, when the net migration figures showed only 40,000. We stand by our estimate that EU migration may have been undercounted by as much as 50,000 a year.